Bird's Food Choice

Problem Scenario

People could use my project results to pick out the bird food birds like best, so maybe more birds would come to their house.

Broad Question

Do birds show preferences to different types of bird food?

Specific Question

Do bird food types affect bird choices?

Hypothesis

I think the birds will show different likings toward different feeds.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Bird food type

Dependent Variable:

Bird choices

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Bird food amount/type

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General Plan

1. You need something to record your results on.
2. Set up some bird feeder in a place where birds will be able to locate it.
3. Record how many birds visit each feeder and what types of birds visit.
4. Graph your results.

Potential Problems And Solutions

You could run out of bird seed. Just refill it.
You could scare birds away by making loud noises. Be quiet and wait for them to return.
The birds could be scared of you if they see you. Don't make yourself visable all the time.
You could have no more bird seed. Just record your data from the other feeders.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

A birds eyesight could be damaged because of flash.
A bird could get caught up in one of the suet feeders or a string from the clothes line.
You could be pecked to death by a crazy bird.

Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
Bird Seed	1	Home
Camera	1	Home
Pen/Pencil	1	Home
Paper	1	Home
Bird Feeder	3	Home

Detailed Procedure
1. Make sure you have more than one type of bird feeder set up.
2. Get some type of recording system to record how many birds go to which feeder.
3. Make sure there is enough food in each feeder.
4. Don't disturb any birds to change the data results.
5. Figure out which birds mainly went to which feeder.

Data Table

	Number of Birds
Suet Feeder #1	29
Suet Feeder #2	18
Seed Feeder	2
Popcorn	3

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Data Analysis

All Raw Data

Suet Feeder #1: 29
Suet Feeder #2: 18
Seed Feeder: 1
Popcorn: 3

Graphs

Photos

Results

More birds went to the berry/seed suet feeder.

Conclusion

Telling from the data I collected, birds preferred the berry/seed suet feeder and the seed suet feeder.

Discussion

The bird's tended to eat the Suet Feed more than the other feeds I had put out. I found that birds do have a preference on foods and they eat from the feeders they like. I didn't have any problems with collection of my data. This expiriment couldbe improvedby having more food choices and doing the expiriment in more time and in a place with more birds in the area.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

This project may be a benefit to community so they know what types of bird feeds to put out to attract birds to their houses. It may also be a benefit because people will know that birds do have a preference and they don't just go for anything.

Background Research

Some bird's have a certain food they prefer to eat. Most birds do. Like humans, they have taste buds, but not as many as mammals. They have taste buds on the posterior part of the tongue and pharynx floor, but not as many as the mammalian ones. Birds do have less taste buds.
Many birds don't prefer sweet like sugar feeds. Except, humming birds, parrots, and other fruit and nectar feeders. Hummingbirds can distinguish sweet tastes, but other birds don't show a preference for sweet or sour. For slats, here is a variety of discrimination levels.
There are a variety of responses for bitter. The classic study was done by Brower in 1969. Many types of milkweeds contain cardiac glycosides. If any animal were to eat it, they would get sick and throw up the milkweed; but a lethal dose is fatal. Brower raised Monarch Butterflies on the milkweed. They would feed the Monarchs to Blue Jays to see what would happen. They Blue Jays would get violently ill and vomited, 12 minutes later. In a 1/2 hour they would recover. If they tried to feed the Blue jays the Monarchs again, the Jays wouldn't eat them, unless starved. The point of this is that birds can taste bitter and will learn to associate bitter with plants or animals and avoid them. They bird would benefit from not getting sick and the prey would benefit from not getting eaten by the bird that didn't want to waste it's time eating it.
In most areas black oil sunflower seeds are preferred by birds, but some don't like that type of food. Most do like it though due to the high meat-to-shell ratio; and its size is easy for a small bird to crack open and eat.

References

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/BirdFoods.htm
http://askville.amazon.com/birds-taste-buds/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=455601

Abstract

My project was to find out if birds had a preference on foods. After I put the 4 different feeders out, the birds mainly went to the berry and seed suet feeder. I studied my question previously to see if birds even had a preference on the foods they ate, to find out that birds have taste buds, like humans, but not as many. Only a few birds went to the popcorn and bird seed. I found out that more birds liked the suet feeders. After recording my data and writing it down on my Wiki, I found that scientists had done this study previously and gotten the same results. Bird's do have a preference on food.